Just a Bad Dream
by Barry Bubblestein
Summary: Gloyd is getting ready for bed when he hears the sound of Candlehead having a nightmare. Can he help comfort her after waking from her horrifying dream? Jack o Lantern pairing.


It was nighttime in the land of Sugar Rush once again, ending another day full of racing. The twinkling gumdrop stars covered the sky as they shown over the candy game as all the candy citizens had crawled into bed for a good night's rest. At the candy castle, all the Sugar Rush racers were already sleeping soundly in their beds. After Vanellope had taken over as ruler of Sugar Rush, she let all of the avatars stay at the castle with her, giving everyone their own private rooms. She figured, why not let everyone live the royal life she now got to live.

Thankfully, the castle had a large number of guest room to accommodate all sixteen racers. Each racer got to pick their own room for themselves and decorate it to their liking. Vanellope, being the president of the game, got the royal bedroom for herself.

Most of the racers were already in dreamland, but one racer was still remained awake. Gloyd Orangeboar, the merry prankster of Sugar Rush, was just finishing up his bedtime routine. He came out of his bathroom in his orange, pumpkin decorated pajamas and pulled back the covers of the Halloween themed sheets. "Oh man, what a day." He yawned to himself, "I'm gonna be sore after that wipeout in Gumball Gorge earlier." He crawled under the blankets and was about to turn out his pumpkin lamp, when a sound broke the quietness of the night.

"Nooo…"

Gloyd sat up in bed and listened for it carefully for the sound.

"Ugghh…please…"

There it was again. It seemed to be coming from the next room, which was occupied by Candlehead, a fairly happy-go-lucky racer. Gloyd got out of bed and slowly opened his door out to the main hallway. He tipped toed down the corridor to the neighboring room, making extra sure to not make a sound. If any Oreo guards that were on late night patrol saw him sneaking into another racer's room, they would automatically assume he was up to no good. After all, he was the game's prankster.

He turned the knob carefully and slowly opened the door, peeking inside to see if the green haired girl was awake. There wasn't a single sound in the entire room, despite the noises Gloyd had heard. Just as he was about to leave, Candlehead murmured something.

"Go away…"

Gloyd turned to see the ditzy racer stirring in her sleep. He opened her door just enough for him to slip inside, closing it behind him. He tip toed up to Candlehead to see what was wrong. She was tossing and turning violently, her face scrunched up with discomfort. A light sheet of sweat covered her forehead as she kept murmuring cries for help in her sleep.

Gloyd then figured out that Candlehead was having a bad dream.

* * *

Candlehead skipped happily through the field of lollipops, humming along with the Sugar Rush theme happily. "Hm Hm Hm Hm Hm, Jump into your racing car, Say Sugar Rush, Sugar Rush." She sang out loud as she skipped onward. It was the best kind of day in the sugary game for her. The sun was shining, there wasn't a single cotton candy cloud in the sky, and best of all, her candle was happily lit atop her hat. She loved how the flame flickered brightly; almost to the point of it being hypnotic. Just the way it, sort of, burned…and flicked… and was bright… Oops, she shook herself out of her trance and continued on. "S-U-G-A-R…"

Suddenly, darkness.

All at once, everything went completely pitch black, the game's theme stopping. Not even the flame of her candle could offer the necessary light in order to see anything. After a few moments of trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness, a large square area a few feet ahead of her was lit up by several blue and white squares on it, flashing in a pattern. Candlehead started to walk towards the bright lights when she stopped as her shoes made a light clanging sound against the flood. She looked down to realize that the light, chocolaty dirt she had been walking on was now a metal floor; she thought it looked a little like a factory.

Candlehead climbed up onto the large square to get a better look at the flashing panels in the floor. However, once she stepped on the square, the glowing pattern stopped. Only one of the white squares lit up the room with its light. The green haired racer walked up to the floor panel and decided to investigate it.

As soon as she was in the center of the white square, all of the blue and white areas started to rise up out of the ground as pillars. Candlehead peered down to see the ground grow further and further away as the pillars rose up, until it was nothing but a drop into darkness. Once they had stopped rising, Candlehead looked around in fright, wondering what was going on.

Then came a noise; it sounded like a trap door opening from above. Candlehead looked up to see a small colorful box fall from a metal trap door and start platform jumping. It bounced closer and closer to her platform, lighting up each square, until it came to a stop on the platform in front of her. The Candle headed girl examined the box with curiosity while it did a couple of flips in place. "_It kind of looks like a Jack in the box." _Candlehead thought to herself.

Suddenly, the box began to violently shake and grow, causing Candlehead to back away in fear. Once it was about five times its original size, it popped open to reveal the "Jack" that was inside. And, oh boy, was it a sight for the innocent racer to take in.

What sprung out was what appeared to be a giant, cyborg duck. It had green skin with long strands of hair that was covered in dark green polka dots. One of the abomination's eyes was normal while its other was a robotic eye that glowed red. It's green bill opened up to show two rows of sharp, metal teeth. Parts of its face and red shirt it wore had rusted away, revealing its grey, metallic undercoat. Both of its arms, along with the body connecting the monster to the box, were long, twisted springs that ended with an orange glove on each hand.

The monster let out a cackle, making Candlehead scream in fright. She looked around and realized that the only way to escape this horrifying creature was to hop from pillar to pillar. She backed up to get a running start and dashed forward, leaping over the gap. She barely managed to grab the ledge of the neighboring platform as she pulled herself up as fast as she could. Candlehead gazed back up at the demented child's toy to see its cyborg eye start to charge up. Knowing it was about to attack her, she ran for the next pillar, hopping over to it safely. The tower she had be previously standing one had been shot down by a laser blast from the beast. This continued for about five more towers until the racer reached the very corner platform of the square area. She looked over the edge only to see nothing but a darkened abyss below. Plus, it looked like quite the drop as well.

Candlehead looked back and gasped as the monster pulled itself back into its box, which was now hopping toward her. "No no no no no no…" She said to herself as it came closer and closer to her. Finally, it hopped off of the platform in front of her and spun through the air, ready to crush her.

"No no no no no…"

* * *

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Candlehead shrieked, jerking upright from her unpeaceful sleep. This sudden panic caused Gloyd to stumble to the floor in shock. He picked himself up as Candlehead started to thrash her bed sheet about in her frenzy, continuing to screech. "CANDLEHEAD! CANDLEHEAD! SH! SH! SH! SH! SH! It's okay! It's okay!" Gloyd quickly grabbed a hold of her shoulders and held her in place, trying to calm her down. She turned her head in his direction, ceasing her loud shouts when she saw his face.

Her hair was a mess, not only from her thrashing, but also from being soaked in the cold sweat that covered her body. Her heart felt like it was going a thousands beats per minute. She was hyperventilating badly as her wide eyes surveyed the area, trying to process what had happened. After she caught her breath, Candlehead started to cry on the pumpkin boy's shoulder. "Oh Gloyd, it was horrible. There was a factory, and then towers, and then, and then…" She sobbed out faster than Gloyd could keep up with.

"Woaw Candles, slow down." He told her, allowing her to lean off of his shoulder and wipe the tears from her eyes. Just then, an Oreo guard pushed the door open, peeking inside the room.

"Is everything okay? President Vanellope was woken by the sounds of screaming and send me down here to check things out." He explained to the duo.

Gloyd turned to him and shook his head. "Everything is fine. Just a bad dream is all." He told the guard, who nodded and closed the door quietly. The pumpkin racer sat on Candlehead's bed and turned to her. "Now tell me what happened slowly." He gently asked her.

Candlehead nodded sadly and started to spin her yarn. "So I was walking through Sugar Rush normally, when all of a sudden, everything went dark. Then the lights came back on and I was in a factory. I walked out onto the floor and a bunch of platforms rose out from the ground. After that, a giant, metal, duck faced, Jack in the box came out and attacked me. It eventually cornered me and was going to flatten me. That's when I woke up." She finished, breaking down crying all over again from the traumatic dream.

Gloyd patted the ditzy racer's back, comforting her as she cried. "Sounds like you had a nightmare about Mad Jack from Donkey Kong 64." Gloyd put together. She had a right to be spooked about the mechanical monster, he was pretty frightening. "But it's okay now. It was just a dream."

Candlehead had started to settle a bit as she sat up from Gloyd's shoulder. "But it was so scary." She told him.

Gloyd thought for a moment before getting an idea. "How about I spend the night with you in your bed? I'll protect you from any bad dreams." He asked the green haired girl. This seemed to make her feel better as she smiled at him with hope.

"You promise?"

"I promise."

Candlehead pulled down her blanket, letting Gloyd crawl in beside her. He brought the covers up to their chins as he and the female racer snuggled closer to him for comfort. He looked down to see that she had already nodded off, smiling that he was there to help her have a good night's rest. Gloyd thought she looked kind of cute when she slept; her soft smile, her adorable look, and her green hair that was out of its pigtails. He pulled himself next to the sleeping Candlehead and soon fell asleep as well.

"Good Night Candlehead." Was the last thing he thought as he drifted off.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys, so how was that? I've been wanting to write a Jack o Lantern for for quite a while now. I don't see very many people pairing these two as much as I do other Sugar Rush racers. I think it was pretty good for my first story with these two. Also those of you who have played DK 64 and fought Mad Jack know exactly what Candlehead was going through. That thing is as creepy as it is a pain to beat. So leave a review or fave if you liked, and i'l see you guys on the next fic.**


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